The word slot comes from the American Heritage Dictionary, fifth edition, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. A slot is an opening, usually narrow, in which an airplane or other object can fit. Slots are used to control air traffic at busy airports to ensure that passengers aren’t repeatedly delayed by the same aircraft. A slot also refers to a job position. Some examples of slots include interior openings on copy desks. The chief copy editor of a newspaper or Gazette occupies a slot. Another example of a slot is a narrow opening in an airplane’s wing, which is opened to improve airflow.
The term “slot” has several meanings in modern society. It is used to refer to a hollow in a surface, usually at the base of the throat above the breastbone. The word’s meaning is unclear, but it’s related to Old French esclot and Old Norse slod. Although it’s unclear when slot first emerged as a verb, it was only in the 1520s that its modern meaning came into use.
Another common use of slots is in modals. A modal is a component that contains HTML, but isn’t displayed to the user. A slot can be stripped of HTML and passed reusable functionality instead. In this way, a component can define a pattern without any HTML. As a result, the component can be reused many times. With a slot, a component can easily extend the functionality of other components. If you don’t need to use HTML code, you can also create modals for your modals.